C. R. Praveen Nair

Rear Admiral C. R. Praveen Nair, NM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He last served as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet. He earlier commanded the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and was the commissioning commanding officer of the guided missile destroyer INS Chennai.

Naval career
Nair attended the Naval Academy, Goa and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1991. He later specialized in Communication and Electronic Warfare. He has served on board the training ship INS Krishna and served as the communications and electronic warfare officer of the Kora-class corvette INS Kora.

Nair commanded the Kora-class corvette INS Kirch. He attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He then served in the Talwar-class Training Team. He was the communications and electronic warfare officer of the Delhi-class guided missile destroyer INS Mysore. He later served as the Fleet Electronic Warfare Officer and the Fleet Communication Officer of the Western Fleet.



Nair attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He served as the Directing Staff at Naval War College, Goa and as the Officer-in-Charge Signal School in Kochi. In 2016, he was appointed the commissioning commanding officer of the third and last ship of the Kolkata-class Stealth guided missile destroyer INS Chennai. As the CO, he commissioned the ship on 21 November 2016 in Mumbai. In April 2017, the ship was dedicated to the city of Chennai, its namesake.

As a Commodore, Nair served as the Fleet Operations Officer (FOO) of the Eastern Fleet. For his tenure as FOO, he was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for devotion to duty on 26 January 2020. He also served as the Commodore (Personnel) in the Personnel directorate at naval headquarters. In 2020, he took over as the sixth commanding officer of the flag ship of the Navy, the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Flag rank
Nair was promoted to flag rank in 2022 and was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy & Plans) (ACNS P&P) at naval headquarters. He took over as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet on 10 November 2023 from Rear Admiral Vineet McCarty.

Awards and decorations
Nair was awarded the Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to duty) in 2020.